ROHAN Ince is on standby to solve a defensive crisis at Newcastle on Saturday after helping Albion through to the third round of the League Cup.

Ince finished last night’s 4-2 win at Oxford United in the centre of defence, a position the midfielder could occupy in the North-East as Liam Rosenior is set to miss out with an ankle injury.

That would allow skipper Bruno to revert to right-back as boss Chris Hughton weighs up his options for the visit to his old club.

The alternatives are to throw in Uwe Huenemeier, who made an hour-long comeback from eight months out with groin damage at Oxford, or one of the youngsters involved in the second round win.

Hughton told The Argus: “We’ll have to see over the next couple of days. Uwe could feel great but he has been out for eight months.

“Where we are realistically is playing one of the youngsters at right-back or playing Incey at centre-half. I’ve got a few days to decide what to do if Liam misses out.”

Hughton, who made 11 changes again, praised the character of his second string side in seeing off League One Oxford with goals in the last 15 minutes by Kazenga LuaLua, Elvis Manu and sub Tomer Hemed. “I’m delighted,” he said. “We made a lot of changes, had some young players, and it’s great experience for them.

“I thought we showed great character at 1-1. I don’t think we should have allowed the game to get to that stage, because we had some really good chances.

“But Oxford showed some real quality as well and at 1-1 it was a big test for us. We came through it and managed to get more goals.”